Joint Multi-Role Advanced Rotorcraft
Aviationweek's Ares blog has an article up about the Joint Multi-Role advanced-rotorcraft technology demonstration (JMR TD) draft solicitation, which can be found here. Even better, they've posted renders of several expected JMR competitors' entries:
Bell Helicopter is pitching a Tiltrotor with a Blackhawk-size cabin.
Boeing appears to be considering both a rigid coaxial design similar to Sikorsky's X2 and a single-rotor with ducted propulsor similar to Piasecki's SpeedHawk.
The Start-up Texans at AVX have their concept for a coaxial design using ducted propulsors.
And Sikorsky is naturally pitching an X2 aircraft with a Blackhawk-size airframe.
No Eurocopter render, though they're testing their X3 they haven't committed to making a run at JMR yet.
Except for those coaxial birds, they all seem too big. I'd think we would need to have the ability to land in small LZs (like forest clearings, Embassy compounds, urban centers, etc).
I'm curious to know what kind of operational LZ flexibility the Ospreys currently have. I haven't seen them operating off of anything besides permanent bases, forward airfields (Anbar), flat desert or ships.
Now i know what a baby from a Blackhawk and an Ospray/Zeppelin looks like.
Seen them land in reasonably dense green zone in-country. Definitely can't squeeze in to the same spots as a Black Hawk or Huey, rather they're comparable to a CH-53. Which is definitely a serious limitation for an assault or CASEVAC platform, but it does have other benefits that somewhat offset those disadvantages.Originally Posted by Hellfish
Hellfish - correct that the coax compound has the smallest square footage. Actually the tilt rotor has a relatvely small square footage because it does not have a long tailboom with tail rotor. The old addage of shortest but widest runway comes to mind. Hard to see in the picture but the tilt rotor is smaller than V-22.
It would be a interesting sight of a US Coax helicopter.
Interesting that AvWeek didn't include any renders of Boeing's inboard engine tiltrotor concept seen previously in JMR material. Wonder if it has been dropped or just an omission for the sake of image space.
The Bell and Sikorsky models seems IMO to be the best canidates to be selected.
Let's start laying bets gents...I say 10 years of R&D, 15 Billion before she gets canceled and they just order UH-60Z's...
So this will appear when? 2030 if everything goes right?
Depends on how funding comes, how development goes, etc. In broad strokes, the Army-led program wants to produce 4 basic airframes (light, medium, attack, heavy), with the first hitting production around 2025 and the last around 2035. But that phase of the program is still a ways off, what they're doing now is soliciting proposals for sub-scale tech demonstrators to prove the concepts each company is putting forward. Two or more demonstrators would fly by Fiscal Year 2017 and then the winner or winners start on the production aircraft.
Count me in.
Eurocopter's proposed future Heavy Transport Helicopter has a better chance of being realised first....
And the CH-53K will beat HTH, we can play this game all day.
If it's true that they are in bed with Boeing on this one, the HTH may even have a chance on the American defense market. Interesting times ahead, I say, given all these new designs currently in the pipes.
Depends. The -K will beat a proposed HTH in what fields, exactly? Range, payload, costs? It's primarily developed for the Marines. I haven't heard the Army being interested in Sikorsky's design. I expect the -K to come in one version only, i.e. with all the necessary stuff to fit into a LHA hangar. Historically speaking, the CH-47 customers outweigh the CH-53 customers by a wide margin. PS: Playing games.. let's include the Mi-26.
Last edited by Steak-Sauce; 08-21-2012 at 06:14 AM.
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